Wednesday Farlim Night Market – It'd been some times I didn't go to night market in Penang, except to those in Bangkok. Haha. Bangkok's night market and Penang's is somehow different as we have got more food here and they have got more clothing at there.

Night market (pasar malam) is fun but then the items and food are repetitive so it gets bored after some times. However, going to the night market once in a blue moon is kinda fun, especially eating the yummy and unhealthy street food.

The plan was actually to search for a cheap RM10 mop for cleaning the floor but it failed because there wasn't anyone selling at there. I recalled back and it's actually the night market at Taman Connaught in Kuala Lumpur that sells the cheap mop, but not here in Penang.

At Farlim's, the stalls are more about clothing, accessories and FOOD! Hueisean and I found no mop and we turned our sight to food instead. Was craving for oily deep fried unhealthy food which is very yummy and we bought ourselves fried dumpling and the unhealthy deep fried chicken skins. OMG.

The after-dinner "desserts" was pretty satisfying. In addition, I brought a packet of sugar cane and grass jelly to balance the oily unhealthy meal. Fried food at the night market rocks! Chicken skin is so awesome, why it must be so unhealthy?! Haha.

I applied Thursday and Friday off last week... I went down to the city of Merlion. I spent 4 days 3 night in that country... Guess what?

Colleague : Where were you last weekend?

Me : I'm in the city of Merlion.

Colleague : Oh, you are going to Singapore? Interview ar?

Me: Nope, I went there for meeting my friends and as a tourist since i have not been there since year 2006. Hehehe... i have free place to stay, free food... just need to buy the air ticket over.

Colleague : Sure or not?

Me: Why you doubt about me?

Colleague : So many people going down to start their new job there... Nevermind we will see...

Me: *just give a big smile*

Hmm... Why they think like that? First, my another colleague recently tender his resignation and got himself over to Singapore. Secondly, lots of people surrounded us just gotten their job in Singapore. So maybe this why people perceive that way when you travel down to Singapore. I'm NOT sure whether my boss also have this perception.

Anyway, it's tough to explain and get rid of the perception...

What would be your reaction if your friends mention he/she was visiting Singapore for a few days?

There were some things I needed to discuss with the staff nurse at the HIV clinic, and so even though I was not on duty, I still went to the hospital today. Parking, as always, was a nightmare, and by the time I got to the counselling room about 10.10 am, none of the volunteers on duty were there yet. (clinic duty is supposed to start at 10 am)

I went straight to the doctor's room, saw the nurse, and spoke to her about Shidah's case. One of the volunteers on duty, my vice-chair, then arrived. The other volunteer on duty, couldn't make it; and since we were told by the nurse that there were a few new cases to be referred to us, I decided to stay on a while. 2 cases were then referred to us at the same time, and so I took one case and my vice-chair took the other case.

Not long after the 2 cases, SN came in with a lady who looked very familiar.

"Kak, akak tak ingat saya ke?" said the lady to me.

Ahh… no wonder she looked familiar! She may be a new case at Ipoh GH but she had been infected for quite some time already, only thing was before this her appointments were in KL. Remember Zana, the problematic young woman whom I had sent to a shelter home in KL before? Well, this lady referred to us today, Aliza, was an occupant of the same shelter home I had sent Zana to, in fact Aliza was more senior. It was at that home that we met, and Aliza remembered me very well because every time Zana created all sorts of problems at the home, I would be the person they'd contact.

Anyway, Aliza is now out of the shelter home and stays on her own, together with another lady friend from the same shelter home. 2 of Aliza's 4 children are staying together with them, while the older 2 are at a boarding school, fully sponsored. Aliza and her friend both work as cleaners, and after work, at night, she sells burgers to get more income to support her children. Well, from now on, her children will also be getting help from our Children Education Fund.

When Aliza was in the counselling room, I saw Hana outside. The moment she saw me, she immediately got into the room. I took the opportunity to ask about her children. Her eldest, now waiting for her SPM result, is doing a temporary job. My main concern was Hana's second daughter. The girl, who initially did well in school, later got worse in her studies and did very bad in her UPSR last year. I had suspected she had been teased in school because of her birth cert which indicated that she didn't have a father (her eldest sis has a different father and her youngest brother has a different father – but at least they both had "official" fathers). According to Hana, she registered this daughter at a new school for secondary, with new friends altogether, none from her old school, and it seems the girl is more keen to go to school nowadays as compared to before this. I do hope this will continue until she finishes schooling. After all, she now has an IC and so there is no need to show her birth cert to indicate "maklumat bapa tidak diketahui".

After a short chat with Hana, I decided to leave as well. After all, I wasn't on duty. There was supposed to be one more new case to be referred, but my vice-chair said he should be able to handle it, so off I went to the doctor's room to inform them that I was leaving. The nurse then told me that Shidah had just called to ask if from now on it was okay for her to just get her supply of ARV without going for any more appointments. Ahh, obviously, she doesn't want her in-laws to find out. But still, even to get her supply of ARV, she'd need to go to the hospital, no? What was she expecting? To get me to bring the supply of ARV to her MIL's house and come out with whatever story on why I was visiting? When the nurse told her she still has to come to the hospital for her appointments, Shidah told the nurse… "Nanti saya kena bincang dulu dengan Kak Afizah." Duh! Akaaaak jugak?!

Well, Shidah had not called me yet after that, I guess she's going to wait nearer to the appointment date before she makes that call.

Later in the afternoon, I decided to visit Lin to deliver some of the reference books I got from various donors. Lin has 2 children sitting for their exams this year – her son will be sitting for SPM and her daughter will be sitting for PMR. It had been quite a while since I last visited her family, her children were beginning to wonder if I'd ever be visiting again. When I called, Lin said she was out elsewhere but her eldest daughter was home. The daughter who graduated from a nursing college about a year ago, has been unable to find a related job and is still applying here and there. For the past year, she had been doing temporary jobs here and there, all unrelated to her qualifications, mostly clerical work.

I had quite a long chat with Lin's daughter. She too seemed quite comfortable opening up to me. I do hope she'll be able to get a proper job soon.

As for the 2 children who will be sitting for their exams this year, Lin had already arranged for tuition for her form 3 girl, but had not been able to influence the form 5 boy to do the same. Both of them are under sponsorship, so tuition fees shouldn't be a problem. But according to Lin, the boy doesn't want tuition because he's shy. Shy to go for tuition?? But why?!

"Dia kata dia malu sebab dia tak pandai," said Lin to me. Aiyo, shouldn't he go for tuition because he is tak pandai??

Most have noticed that I had laid down writing for almost 14 days. The reason was this i.e. that I had been on a weeklong business cum leisure trip to Cambodia beginning 30 January and upon my return, I was down with cough and cold that forced me to confine myself to bed for the next 6 days. For a man of 68, it wasn't easy to recover from the dreaded cough and cold, even if I had forced myself to drink two bottles of Band Essence of Chicken daily hoping to reenergize my ailing body. I never really liked visiting a doctor for a simple illness like this for I know the prescription would be the good old panadol and some anti- biotic pills.

Several friends called to find out what has gone wrong with me. I am feeling better now and the first thing I did was to open my email only to find more than 1001 unread emails. If you were me, would you want to read all the emails or be selective in reading only those that are of interest to you and the rest be ignored?

The trip to Cambodia was an interesting one this time. It gives me the opportunity to meet up with people that I had befriended back in 1992. Some of them are holding high government position; some in business while some have long retired and settled in their villages, and their whereabouts known.

One interesting personality that I met was General Chhum Sucheat, currently holding the position of the Under Secretary of State and spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense. I had known him as the Cambodian People's Armed Forces (CPAF) Liaison Officer who was with me throughout the period of my UN duties in Cambodia in 1992. He was at the time just a 37 year old CPAF officer of the rank of Brigadier, while I was already reaching the age of 50 and a Colonel. Surprisingly too, General Ke Kim Yan, CPAF Chief of Defence Force at the time was also of the same age with General Sucheat. The former has ventured into politics and is today a Minister in the Hun Sen government. I was fortunate to have met him again during an earlier visit to Cambodia in 2005 when he was still the Chief of Defence Force.

My first day in Cambodia was to call upon the Malaysian Ambassador at the newly built Malaysian Embassy complex that is also home for the Ambassador and his staffs. I also called upon the Defence Attache, Col Adnan Ariffin in his beautifully furnished office and the Matrade marketing officer Mr. Thorn Sarorn who happens to be a local Khmer who spoke fluent Indonesian and English. I am indeed thankful to the Ambassador and his staffs for having agreed to meet despite me being a nobody, and for me to express the reason for the visit to Cambodia, and to be accorded well by everyone.

My meeting with General Sucheat on the second day brought back many fond memories. As I had alluded earlier he was much younger than me. But what surprised me most is that he now is a tee-totaller; having being told by his doctors to abstain completely from alcoholic liquor because of a heart ailment. In the days that I had known him, he is never without a glass of liquor at hand; more so during period of leisure.

What is obviously visible in Phnom Penh today is that one can no longer see armed soldiers and military vehicles roaming the city. This is strikingly unusual from what was witnessed in the period leading to the UN intervention of the early 90's where armed soldiers roamed freely in the city and around the country side. Road blocks manned by the militia and police were so common around the city center and along the country roads then, that one finds it unsafe to travel after dusk. The city of Phnom Penh has gone through some major facelift, spotting newly constructed high raised modern designed buildings all over the city. From the number of foreign banks seen around the city, I believe businesses in Cambodia are growing at a rapid pace. Malaysia's Cambodian Public Bank (Campu Bank) the first Malaysian bank to venture into Cambodia in 1992 appears to be one of the largest foreign banks having its headquarters in a newly constructed multistory building.

My weeklong trip to Cambodia wasn't in vain. Here, I wish to recall the final paragraph of a book I wrote about the Malaysian Experience in Cambodia, quote, "Malbat has learnt one valuable lesson i.e. that peacekeeping is not about projecting one's physical might; on the contrary, peacekeeping has all to do with the portrayal and the exercise of one's humble and humane values. This was where our soldiers stood above the rest and the sacrifices they made were all for a worthy cause. We gave the Cambodian people the peace that they so deserve. With peace, there would be prosperity and with prosperity, there would be enduring regional stability" unquote.

Having witnessed the rise of Cambodia from the ravages of war, I can now say that Malaysian soldiers were a party to the peace and prosperity that Cambodia enjoys today, and we all ought to be proud.

A toothpaste factory had a problem - they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the toothpaste tubes inside. This was due to the way the production line had originally been built and installed. Rather than completely redoing the production line, they decided to find a way to detect and stop empty boxes from getting through. So, they hired a top-notch consulting firm to do the job.

The consulting firm flew in several of their best production line engineers. Physical measurements were taken and video cameras were setup to monitor the line during normal production. Data collected was then taken back to the consulting firms headquarters for analysis.

The recommendation of the engineers and designers was to build and install a custom inline scale, using strain gauges, connected to a computer that will weigh each box coming down the production line. If the box is empty, the computer will stop the line, display a warning message on a screen, sound an alarm, and turn on flashing lights to alert workers to the fact that an empty box needs to be removed from the line. One press of a large pushbutton will restart the assembly line.

Unfortunately, the consulting firms in-house prototype shop was booked about six weeks out. So, it was then decided to put the custom electronic production line scale out for bid. Plans and specifications were sent out, along with request for proposals (RFP's), to several engineering specialty firms, to build the custom electronic scale.

Bids were received, evaluated, and the primary contractor selected. Six months and $5,000,000 later, the custom scale is delivered to the toothpaste manufacturer.

Now, when the scale detects an empty box, it stops the assembly line, so a worker can remove it. Pushing a button restarts the assembly line. Included with the scale and new computer is a statistics program that shows how well the scale is doing its job.

A month later the president of the company comes by and decides to check on the new scale to see if it is stopping empty boxes from being shipped. While looking at the computer screen he is amazed to find out that NO empty boxes were shipped out of the factory after the custom electronic scale was installed. Also, complaints about empty boxes have stopped. He says to himself, "The scale cost a lot, but it looks like it was worth it."

However, looking closer at the statistics, he is shocked to see that the number of empty boxes picked-up by the scale was zero, after three weeks of production.

Puzzled, the president goes down to the factory floor, and walks up to the part of the line where the new electronic scale was installed.

After looking at the scale, he notices a portable electric fan blowing across the conveyor belt just before the scale, which suddenly blows an empty box off the line – without stopping the line. He turns to one of the nearby workers and asks, "who put that fan there?"

"I did, sir. I got tired of having to stop what I was doing, go remove the empty box on the scale, and then restart the line. Stopping and starting the line was hurting our overall production. Now, thanks to that little $20 fan, no more empty boxes. Good idea, huh?" "Yeah, good idea...."

-Author Unknown-

Hmm...does this situation sound so familiar??? When $$$ and lots of $$$$$$ is spent to solve a problem which could be easily resolved at minimal cost.

Do leave a comment to share your views. Thanks! Have a lovely evening.

Bangkok Trip: Huai Khwang Night Market (Day 3) – Oops, I missed out a place after eating my dinner at Somboon Seafood Restaurant on the third day of my Bangkok Trip last week. Right after our dinner, we went to tour around the area of Huai Khwang. Walking along Ratchadaphisek, and turned left into Pracharat Bamphen Road when reaches a junction leaded us to a row of night market and stalls located along the road.

It's the Huai Khwang night market and wet market area. Unlike night market in town, this one is more cater to the locals around that area, selling clothing, accessories, shoes, and also raw food and vegetables at the wet market. Besides, there's many exotic sexy clothing because of the presence of night club workers at this area. We toured around this place for an hour before heading back to the hotel. The wet market is where we stopped as it's boring and smelly. Now I know that they shop for meat and vegetables at night, something different.

Wherecode - Area Code Exchange City Database A Database With Cities For Every Area Code And Exchange In The United States. High Quality, Reasonably Priced, Decent Commission. Updated Frequently, Highly Accurate. Visitors Can Test The Data, And The Background Of The Page Has Info On Local Exchanges. Protect Your Affiliate Links Do What All Master Affiliate Marketers Do, Cloak Your Affiliate

Learn PHP Development The Easy Way! How A 26-year-old Computer Nerd "cracked The Code" On PHP Development And Promises He Can Teach Anyone How To Make Powerful Websites...in Just 14 Days...guaranteed! The Complete Joomla Tutorial Package (joomla 1.5 Videos Just Added The Complete Joomla Tutorial Package. 17 Videos, 400 Templates, 75 Module Addons And How To Create Joomla Templates Ebook.

The Dreamweaver Video Tutorial Course. Building Websites, Mini-sites And Salespages Was Never This Easy. This 19 Piece Straight To The Point Dreamweaver Course Will Help The Beginner And The Advanced Web Designer With Very Helpful Videos. - For Aff. Banners And Articles Check /jvpartners.html Free Car Wizard. Get A Brand New Free Car! Highest Converting Free Car Site On The Net -- 1:14

Google Redirect Virus Removal Tool - Huge Demand See Our Affiliate Resources At Http://fixredirectvirus.org/affiliates.html - This Huge Market Is Teaming With Buyers! We Are The First And Only Product In This Market - Giving People The Best Way To Get Rid Of The Google Redirect Virus! 100% Works High Quality Squeeze Page & Wordpress Templates The Best Collection Of High Quality Squeeze